Boy Suffers Burns

EAST HAMPTON — A teenager suffered severe burns Monday evening after a firecracker that he and two friends were playing with misfired, police and family said.

Ryan Butler, 17, suffered second- and third-degree burns on nearly half of his body after the accident. He was rushed to Hartford Hospital but later flown by helicopter to the special burn unit at Bridgeport Hospital. He was in critical but stable condition late Monday.

``He was screaming and crying ... he was in awful pain,'' said Butler's mother, Gloria, from her East Hampton home after visiting her son in the hospital. "We just have to pray for him because I can't lose my son.''

Butler's mother said her son's friend returned from a vacation with a bag of fireworks -- they are legal in some states, but not Connecticut. She said the two teenagers planned to light them for fun. She wasn't worried, she said, because her son had experience with small firecrackers and sparklers.

So Butler, his friend Jason Canterbury, 18, and Wendy DeJardins, 18, set out to a field late Monday afternoon. At 4:30, Canterbury and DeJardins were making frantic calls to police and family.

A spark apparently caught Butler's clothes, which ignited, scorching his pants, shirt, hair and face. His mother said by the time he was in the hospital, skin was hanging dead off his limbs.

His belongings were burned beyond recognition. The beeper in his pocket melted into a puddle of plastic.

Besides the police, the local fire department and the State Police Emergency Services Unit Bomb Division rushed to the field and searched for any fireworks left behind. No arrests were made by late Monday, but police said the case remains open.

Butler's mother said she will fight police if they try to bring charges.